Adam Glass On The Thinner, Younger Amanda Waller In Suicide Squad #1

The end of Suicide Squad #1 seemed to bring about a couple of surprises. First, the new nature of the Task Force X. Second the missions they are being sent on may not quite be of the same nature as before. And third, their boss, Amanda Waller, is now a skinny hot young babe.

Created as part of the Legends series back in the eighties, this morally dubious Waller has commissioned and led the Suicide Squad made up of super villains doing the government work superheroes cannot or would not do – and sometimes doing her own dirty work. But she remained one of the only main DC female characters with a heft about her waist. As characters skinned up and busted out, Amanda Waller remained… Amanda Waller.

That’s until the Green Lantern movie where she happened to be played by the relatively svelte Angela Bassett.

And this is what she looks like today in the new Suicide Squad. Almost as if she were designed to play as a younger version of the movie character.

And already people are calling foul, accusing DC of body fascism, exhibiting a desire to show only the most stereotypically attractive bodies on the page, presenting an unrealistic aspiration in the minds of the impressionable and firming up the concept that the only worthwhile woman is a thin woman.

However it could just be DC trying to align their screen and comics together and showing a younger Amanda Waller compared to the version on screen, someone she will become?

Writer of Suicide Squad Adam Glass, who also works on the TV show Supernatural, disagreed with the criticism, pointing out to Bleeding Cool that this was a rebooted, younger Amanda Waller at the start of her career. “Amanda Waller is not defined by her size but by her attitude and she still has plenty of that.”

Still, we do wonder what’s next. Could Big Barda become Size Zero Barda any time soon? I hear Alyson Hannigan may be interested in the part…

Another interesting factor is the disappearance of Marco Rudy from Suicide Squad#1, despite being solicited for the first issue, and still being listed as the artist on DC’s New 52 website. He has been replaced with the second issue artist, Federico Dellocchio. Which illuminates a piece he stated in a recent interview with Jazma, where he says;

I would say something about Suicide Squad but i dont know how much i can say, so i can only say i did my best. and i was on time. Please give the book a chance i know how hard the team over there is trying to make it good, if you like my stuff i might have some good news on the way..stay tuned.